Team: 2019-20 Tampa Bay Lightning

Initial Creation Date: Feb. 25, 2020

Published: Feb. 25, 2020

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

The last few days have been interesting. JBB knows this is his time so he traded away three first round picks (and the future) for two middle six forwards that have grit. Coleman, Goodrow and Maroon are the type of players we were missing last year.

So how does this shake out? Our top four forwards are Stamkos, Point, Kucherov and Cirelli. The next four player tier is Killorn, Palet, Coleman and yes Johnson for now. I think Cooper will be changing lines more often than changing his shorts over the next few weeks. Goodrow is our 3C. Maroon and Paquette anchor the fourth line. Gourde and Verhaeghe split time for the last spot.

It speaks volumes that JBB does not believe that Johnson, Gourde, Verhaeghe, Stephens or Volkov are not the answer for third line matching.

The defense when/if is healthy is also complicated. We now have three top two left handed defense men, Hedman McDonah and Sergechev. Sergechev has grown vastly over the last few months while mostly playing on his natural left side. Cernak and Shattenkirk are both solid second pairing right defense. So here is the real dilemma, do you move Sergechev to his weak side and put him as one of the top four defense men? Doing that leaves TB with only one other left hand shot, Coburn who is very weak.

Going to be fun watching how this team evolves and meshes over the next month.